Weary travelers and a cold, frustrated momma.

You know you’ve been up for a long time when Ruby asks for lunch at 9:19 am.

We’re in South Dakota. The drive took 10.5 hours and we stopped twice. It doesn’t get much better than that with six kids. No one peed their pants and there was minimal crying – and none of it came from Pierce. They are growing up, my friends. Fast.

We were well over halfway to South Dakota and I’d been freezing the whole way because the kids were hot and sweaty and I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t getting the cold air that was blasting at me, when Pierce’s cheeks were redder than any boy ever ought to have and I asked Liberty to adjust his vent. The poor sleeping boy looked like he was wearing an obscene amount of rouge, and his hair was wet with sweat. She opened the vent. Really?! It’s 19 degrees outside, I all but have the A/C running trying to cool the back of the van for them, I’m freezing and they have the vents closed and the windows open?! Oh. my. HELLO! Liberty asked Eden about the vent further back, to which Eden replied, “Oh, I closed those because I was cold.” She didn’t mention that to me, who is shivering in the front, still blasting the cold air for all it was worth.

My children are no longer allowed to adjust the vents without permission.

Pierce was up in the night, trying to find me. He was in a sleeping bag with all the kids and I was in the next room over. I found him in the bathroom, feeling around on the sink and hollering for me. Talk about confusion. I thought him in a sleeping bag might be interesting. He fell asleep without fuss about 25 seconds after I laid him down. Yep, they are growing up.